Open House

Teacher in-service week isn't just about going to professional development, lesson planning, and organizing your classroom for the new school year. It is about re-training your bladder. There is a schedule bladder and you must stick to it. It is also about reminding your feet what it is like to be on them all of a long day. It's a bit of a shock to your system to be back in this mode. Nothing is happy and everything hurts. It will get better.

Tomorrow, we are in professional development again all day. After observing a teacher from another school pull out her knitting at a different training, I contemplated what I could do. I could bring the binding machine into the training and put together handwriting booklets. I could bring my label-maker and start printing out student names. I could bring already printed labels and start labeling all of the students materials. I just can't bring myself to do it. No matter how tempting it might be. So I will just go with my pencil and notepad. I hope to learn something and not feel like it is time better spent lesson planning.

Tonight was open house. I had planned to take some photos, but I never made it that far. I worked right up to the wire getting my classroom prepared. Open house is supposed to be a simple meet the teacher, figure out where  your classroom is, get information, and go home. I am amazed how much information parents want to share in this brief period. They expect me to remember all of their needs. It's hard to remember all of that in such a short time. You meet so many students and their families. They also want to share details that perhaps should be shared in private. That is horrible. I have one of these situations every year at Open House. Right in front of the student something like this is said "My little Billy Sue has behavior problems."   This is not the time or the place. The child is excited to meet the new teacher, is putting their best foot forward, and wants me to see beyond the "bad" kid.  When I shared this with my mom tonight she said " You're told you're Dennis the Menace, now you act like Dennis the Menace." There is a lot of truth to that.  Parents have my email, can set up meetings, etc. Please don't do this to them on their first introduction to the teacher.

The a.c. in my classroom is still not working. I was melting today. Then the a.c. automatically goes off every afternoon. Open House was a hot and sweaty introduction. The maintenance man said he would be keeping an eye on my classroom temperature. Ummm how about you just make the a.c. work? I heard a rumor that next summer they might be replacing our whole H-VAC system. I hope this is fact! I don't know why the people who are in charge of maintaining this never believe you when you say. I never hear the air and I don't even see air movement. The only time the air flows through the vents is when they turn the heat on and then it blows cold air. In the meantime I must re-hydrate.

G'Night